Winnipeg is wringing itself out after a major thunderstorm dumped up to 45 mm on the city in little more than an hour.
The system downed powerlines, backed up sewers and flooded plenty of streets. It also produced hail, thunder and lightning, knocking out power in some parts of the city.
"It was really raining hard and the water was just rushing down the street," said Darrel Russell, who lives near the Disraeli underpass, which flooded during the storm.
A gas station on King Edward Street lost power due to a downed Hydro line outside.
"The whole thing was just sparking like crazy!" said employee Jamie Redfern.
She said Manitoba Hydro was there to deal with the sparking line shortly after she reported it.
Crews spent the day dealing with other power outages in areas throughout the city. The storm wreaked havoc on motorists, as well, knocking out traffic lights at a number of intersections and pressing police into traffic duty.
Several hours after the storm, the water still hadn’t begun to recede from the brand new underpass beneath the Disraeli Bridge, making it difficult and potentially dangerous for drivers.
"Quite a few people have been stalling out,” said Pierre Prest, who helped direct traffic away from the underpass. “One actually got towed away. Others have been taking their time. That's the shallower lane."
Russell said the underpass was closed for three months while crews installed new sewers. "They opened this up August 1st and this is the first big rainfall and this is what happened."
Manitoba Hydro said crews were still working to restore power to several Winnipeg neighbourhoods Sunday evening. They said they are also dealing with outages in several rural communities in southern Manitoba as a result of the weather.
- With a report by Ben Miljure
